Earlier Canes Warning covered “What to expect from Miami Football at ACC Kickoff”. We examined what the Miami beat writers and others from around the ACC and nationally will be asking of the UM contingent. What other should topics be asked beyond the obvious?
The questions that are likely to be proposed to Head Coach Richt and Miami football players Jaquan Johnson and Ahmmon Richards are fairly unanimous. Some of those are likely to be Malik Rosier’s status as the starting quarterback, Richards’ health and the eternal “Is the U back.”
The other questions that seem to be out there are can anyone challenge Clemson in the ACC, can the Miami football program take the next step after making the ACC Championship in 2017 and how have the lines on both sides of the ball progressed since Spring practice?
There are many other questions that close observers of the Miami football team would propose. With any football team, there are many questions beyond those that are obvious to everyone that can be asked. This should be the Hurricanes most talented roster in a long time. How are Richt and his staff going to use that talent?
The Hurricanes are deep and loaded with talent at several positions. It’s hard to see how Miami is going to have enough snaps and targets for the plethora of wide receivers. Travis Homer and DeeJay Dallas will have Lorenzo Lingard and possibly Camron Davis to help carry the load at running back.
On defense Miami is loaded at defensive end, linebacker and in the secondary. The backups at all three of those levels are young and inexperienced. As he has shown in his first two years with the Hurricanes, Richt is not afraid to play Freshman.
The most likely Freshmen to see playing time this season will be at wide receiver, defensive end and in the secondary. Richards and the linebacking corps made an impact as Freshmen in 2016. Navaughn Donaldson earned Freshman All-American status last season. Jonathan Garvin and Trajan Bandy also made impacts in 2017.